How familiar are you with the disease term “diabetes”?Do you know anyone with this disease and you’ve wondered what it is? How it is caused? Have you been looking for ways to manage the medical condition? Or you don’t know why it’s a serious medical condition that claim lives?…

I’m not trying to scare you, you know I no fit😅. In fact, diabetes is treatable so don’t fret. It’s going to be very enlightening and there will be some learning and unlearning in the process. Let’s kick off😉…shall we?

Does sugar cause diabetes?

Many understand diabetes as a disease caused by the intake of too much sugar. In fact, most of us can relate to our parents not buying sugar at all or preventing us from taking too sweet things just because they don’t want us to have diabetes.

That’s really helpful but does diabetes end by just avoiding sugary food? Is the regular sugar the real cause of diabetes? The answer is yes and no because sugar in it’s various forms (starch, glucose, maltose, galactose, etc) can bring about diabetes but the cause is beyond the intake of sugar.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic metabolic disease characterized by elevated blood glucose and it can lead to the rise of other diseases such as heart diseases, kidney diseases, to mention a few.

Diabetes are of various types and it is mainly caused when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t produce enough insulin. 

Insulin is simply an enzyme that regulate the sugar in form of glucose in the body.

The activity of insulin differs from person to person, that’s why someone who might consume more glucose/ sugar may have a less blood glucose level than someone that consumes very little to no sugar.

Most of the food we consume have a form of glucose in them but does that stop us from eating? Definitely not, after all “food is one of life’s simple pleasures”.

Eating certain foods and limiting others helps manage the condition and prevent others from having diabetes.

A diet rich in vegetables, fruits and healthy proteins can have significant impact.

Foods like whole grain such as brown rice, whole grain bread and pasta, millet, buckwheat are beneficial because they contain high fiber and slows down digestion process unlike white grain which contain mostly starch that has a high glycemic index.

Other foods that can be consumed are fatty fish (salmon, mackerel, sardines, albacore, tuna, herring, trout) and beans.

You should try to avoid foods in these categories:

• high carbs content like; white bread, white rice, white pasta, white potatoes
• high glycemic index (GI) fruits like pineapple and melon
• refined sugar
• sugary drinks
• salty foods and alcohol.

Yes, I know how much we love to eat these foods and you think it’s impossible to avoid them… like who doesn’t like rice, our national food right?

The truth is giving up carbs or any high glycemic index foods completely isn’t realistic but what if I told you most of these foods can be modified?.

For example, you could take basmati or brown rice instead of the regular white rice. These varieties of rice will make that party jollof and fried rice and you’ll even be amazed by how delicious it will taste.  

Not only that, there are breads that contain less glycemic index like wheat bread, multigrain bread and brown bread. All you have to do is check or ask for the active ingredients in the bread before consuming or rather, make your breads at home or go to a local bakery, the breads are usually more of fiber than sugar.

So, no one is stopping you from enjoying your favorite meals, all you have to do is just ensure the glucose content is less.

Some of the myths about a diabetic diet include:

• Diabetics cannot eat carbs: as I earlier said, it isn’t realistic to get rid of carbs completely even as a diabetic.
• Diabetics can have as much ‘fat’ as they want: this isn’t true because diabetics should take diet high in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats only as they help improve blood sugar control (according to American Diabetes Association).
• Opting for artificial sweeteners are a safer choice: Artificial sweeteners may worsen insulin resistance even the ones labelled sugar free.
• If you are on medication, you can eat sweets: There is no situation that allows a diabetic to consume sweets as they’re to eat healthy at all times.

Lastly, as much as these foods can help manage and prevent diabetes, you should still maintain a healthy lifestyle by exercising regularly and checking your blood glucose level to prevent stories that touch.

I hope you had an enlightening read. Do well to drop your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section.

Stay healthy ❤️

Love and light.

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Edited by: Oluwanifemi